Rockies’ Helton gets back to beltin’

The Rockies talked about it throughout the offseason. If they were going to be serious contenders in 2011, they needed Todd Helton to hit like he did in 2009, not 2010.

Helton hit .325 in 2009. So what’s he hitting this season? That would be .325.

“This guy, he may be beyond offensively where he was at in 2009,” said Rockies manager Jim Tracy. “He’s farther along than he was at any time in 2009 and he had a heck of a year in 2009. I personally feel he’s a better offensive player right now than he was two years ago. At least that’s the way he’s performing.”

Helton is hitting the ball harder than at any point in the 2010 season, when back problems led to lingering weakness in his legs. He’s not only hitting .325, he has six home runs and 19 RBIs, with a slugging percentage of .556. Last year, he hit .256-8-37-.367.

“I’m stronger, but there are some mechanical things that I’ve fixed,” said Helton. “I’m not going to go into every minute detail, but I’ve made some adjustments. And I’m definitely stronger mentally. I think that also plays a big part in it.”

Said Helton, when asked if he worried that he never again would have this kind of season: “I worry every offseason whether I’m going to have a good year the next year. Ever since I’ve been playing, that’s what motivates me to work in the offseason to try to get better.”

Helton hit his fifth and sixth home runs in the final two games of the San Diego series. Both traveled more than 420 feet.

“It’s not like I’m at 35 or 40 (home runs), so I wouldn’t read anything into it,” said Helton. “But I’m staying behind the ball, staying through the ball.”

Tracy on Helton’s return to health: “Health-wise, he’s able to do a lot of the things physically that he wasn’t able to do last year. It’s tough if you don’t have a lower half. It’s hard to hit. He’s got his legs and he didn’t have them last year.”

Helton also has played an outstanding first base, diving for balls and scooping several throws out of the dirt. Said Helton: “The one thing consistently we’ve done well is play defense. Most definitely it helps the pitching out. You hear guys talking about bringing their offense, or lack of, to their defense. Maybe we should start bringing our good defense to the plate. That may be a way to get us going.”

Other news and notes from Sunday:

*** Tracy on the Giants’ rainout at Chicago, which moved back Tim Lincecum to pitch against the Rockies Monday night at Coors Field: “Look, if you’re going to end up where we want to end
up by season’s end, and that’s to win the Western Division championship,
you’re going to have to take on all comers whenever they show up.”

*** The Rockies are 3-10 in May after a 17-8 April. They’ve lost five consecutive series and four in a row at Coors Field, where their record has dropped to 9-10.

“It’s that vicious cycle that we’re in,’’ said Tracy. “It’s a spell. It’s a period you go through and we’re going through it. You have to keep your head up and deal with it. It’s that simple.’’

“We just can’t do anything right at all right now from the top to the bottom,’’ said Jason Hammel. “Our fielding has been good, but our pitching and hitting, it’s kind of hit or miss. You really don’t know what you’re going to get.’’

*** The Padres’ win snapped a serious losing streak for Mat Latos. Latos had dropped 10 consecutive decisions, during which had compiled an ERA of 6.18.

*** Tracy is preaching patience with beleaguered relievers Franklin Morales and Felipe Paulino, who tossed gas on the fire in the seventh inning. “Patience is the operative word here,” said Tracy. “We showed some patience with Gonzalez two years ago and look what it got us.”

*** The Padres arrived in town with a .230 team batting average and the weight of the National League West on top of them. So what happens? They bang out 32 hits in 108 at-bats, including 11-for-30 with runners in scoring position, and score 24 runs in three games. They’ve scored 46 runs in their last six games, matching their total from their first 14 games.

Now that Tracy and O’Dowd have succeeded in destroying the career of a perfectly productive young 3B (Ian Stewart, who had 28 HR and 94 RBI per 600 ABs before the Rockies brainlesstrust overreacted to an early season slump), I wonder what they have in mind for their next organization-damaging move? Perhaps breaking Tulo’s hands with a crowbar is on the agenda? Maybe giving Mr. Jimenez a complex by fining him fifty grand every time he goes 1-0 on a batter would be an interesting thing to do. Or perhaps they should sell uberprospect Wilin Rosario to Japan – I hear he had an inexcusably horrible 30-AB stretch earlier this year. Besides, the guy’s 22 now – that’s “put up or shut up” time if I’ve ever seen it. And the guy only had 19 HR in 270 AB last year! As we now know, nobody in the Rockies front office owns a calculator, much less a spreadsheet program, and with their five brain cells they can’t figure out what that projects to in a full season. Time to release the bum, I imagine.

Yes, Danny Boy, your Xanax has run out and you’re just anxious as heck. Time to overreact in some more bizarre and pathetically amusing (to your fellow GMs) ways. At least you’re good for that.

[And yes, in case anyone’s wondering, I *will* keep harping on this until someone offers a valid, statistically sound justification for flushing perfectly good talent down the drain. This is just plain moronic.]

Jdrb

Sorry Mark, you must have missed it, I posted that response the other day. From 23 to 25 (I’ll be nice and leave this year entirely out of the discussion), Stewart’s ops: .804, .785, .781. Ops+ adjusts for home park and 100 is an average MLB player. Stewart has gone: 102, 95,97. Stewart has been a slightly below average ml player, by most advanced metrics,(war for example, or win shares) he’ s played at the level of a good reserve, not a starter.

When you believe a player has all star talent, and he regresses slightly from 23 to 25, you start to lose patience. I suspect they’d like to see Stewart make changes in approach and feel that some reality therapy in the minors is the only way to accomplish that.

Patrick, a third-generation Colorado native, is back for his second stint covering the Rockies. He first covered the team from 2005-2009, helping chronicle “Rocktober” in 2007 and also following the team’s playoff run in 2009.

Nick Groke has worked at The Denver Post since 1997, as a sports reporter, city reporter, entertainment writer and digital editor and producer, among other newsroom posts. He also writes regularly about boxing, soccer, MMA and NASCAR.